Cleveland's receivers were a minor disaster last season, meaning Gordon -- the only player taken Thursday -- could be pressed into service early.

"We hope he comes in and plays right away," Browns general manager Tom Heckert told reporters in a conference call Thursday. "That's the goal. Obviously we'll see him here in a couple weeks, but a lot will have to depend on how he picks things up ... but, yeah, we expect him to play."

Cleveland last dipped into the supplemental draft in 1985, when they selected quarterback and local hero Bernie Kosar out of Miami.

Gordon, however, hasn't played since 2010, when he caught 42 passes for 714 yards and seven touchdowns in Baylor's offense, led back then by Washington Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Gordon was dismissed from the team in August 2011 for off-field issues and transferred to Utah. He wasn't eligible to play last season, but Jeremiah -- as a scout for the Philadelphia Eagles -- watched Gordon practice during a scouting trip to Utah. He saw a player who stood out on the practice field, but the Browns are thinking about Sundays.

"Anytime you pick somebody that early, you're hoping he's a good football player, and that's what we think Josh is," Heckert said. "... Most years, there's not a player of Josh's caliber in the supplemental draft, so you don't hear about it very much. But we look at it as a positive. We're getting a really good football player and we're getting him a year early."

At Gordon's workout on Tuesday, he ran a 4.52 40-yard dash. Not dazzling, but respectable.

NFL Network reporter Albert Breer talked to an unnamed NFL exec and a scout before the supplemental draft who felt Gordon was "over-hyped." The Browns saw enough to pull the trigger.